Korean Air is the largest airliner and national carrier of South Korea, based at Seoul Incheon International Airport, it serves the six continents with over 700 flights a week to 126 destinations in 45 countries. The company is mainly engaged in air transportation with an extensive network of domestic and international services. It is also a founding member of the Sky Team airline alliance, and its cargo division, Korean Air Cargo, is the third largest cargo airline in the world. I recently ticked off Korean Air on a short-haul flight and here’s my review:
Date: 17 June 2018
Flight Path: Colombo (CMB) – Malé (MLE)
Seat: 35B / Aisle
Class: Economy
Length: 1 hour 30 minutes
Fare: USD 133 (one-way)
Frequent-flyer program: SKYPASS
PRE-FLIGHT
I checked in for my flight from the Korean Air designated check-in counter at the departure terminal at Bandaranaike International Airport at about 0300hrs. I was practically the only passenger at the check-in counter and maybe that’s because I arrived too early. I walked to the check-in counter and handed over my e-ticket and passport to the check-in staff and she got me checked-in to the flight after confirming that I did not have any luggage that needed to be checked. She gave me back my passport, the e-ticket and the boarding pass and I proceeded to the immigration counters expecting a long queue. Fortunately, there wasn’t a queue and I was able to promptly get the immigration officer to inspect my passport and have it stamped. I had at least two hours to kill before boarding my flight and spent most of my time at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf before boarding the flight at 0535hrs, as usual families with young children were invited to board the flight first along with the SKY priority passengers and then the regular passengers for different cabin zones.
THE FLIGHT
From the moment I stepped from the boarding gate through the aerobridge onto the aircraft, Korean Air made quite an impression, the beautiful stewardesses with their cheerful attitude courteously directed everyone to their seats. Throughout the flight, they were diligent and patient, and made sure everyone was comfortable. During my travels, there have been few times where I have stumbled upon my fair share of unnecessary tones and rude attitudes with flight attendants on many “big name” airliners, however my first experience with Korean Air was positive as I watched them take “service with a smile” to its next level.
The Korean Air stewardesses really knows how to take “service with a smile” to the next level.
Their uniform is a combination of eggshell blue, white and cream, their accessories consisted of the the gravity defying neck scarves and the ribbon-like hairpins that represent the “binyeo”, a traditional Korean hair accessory complimenting their corporate identity and and inherent beauty. The aircraft offered personal seatback Audio and Video onDemand (AVOD) TV’s in both classes of service, it allows passengers to select any channel at any time. First Class seats were equipped with a 10.4-inch LCD monitors, Prestige Class seats had 15.4-inch LCD monitors, and Economy Class with 10.6-inch LCD monitors. As soon as the flight attendants were done with the safety demonstration, our flight departed 9 minutes behind the schedule at 0609hrs.
The operating aircraft equipment was an Airbus A330-200 fitted with 188 economy class and 24 business class seats.
Economy class seats featured 32-33 inches of seat pitch and a seat width of 18 inches.
The economy class seats featured personal seatback Audio & Video onDemand TV’s and a USB socket to charge smart phones and other electronic devices.
Passenger safety information card
Duty free shopping guide
In-flight entertainment magazine
Airsickness bag
Korean Air branded refreshing towel and earphones
Passenger convenience stickers
DINING
A good twenty minutes after airborne, and once we reached the cruising altitude, the flight attendants began serving food. A light breakfast consisted of two muffins, a fruit platter, a strawberry yogurt and a cup of water with the choice of tea or coffee. While on-board meals served by most airliners operating between Malé and Colombo has been a serious concern for many passengers, Korean Air’s breakfast for our flight was pretty good for airline food.
Breakfast
SUMMARY
While I did not expect Korean Air’s flight attendants to be everywhere doing everything during the whole flight, but they did come close and I arrived my destination fourteen minutes ahead of our schedule as a satisfied customer, and I will always consider it as an option when I need to get to Sri Lanka from Malé or vice-versa during my future travels.
Have you flown Korean Air? How was your experience?
No Comments